New home owner well ?

[Amylthib11]

Need advice! Just in process of buying a home with a new well system but are concerned about the size for our family. Here are the details:
6" bedrock drilled well aprox 250' feet deep with a 1/2 HP pump set approx. 220'
Over 250 gallons of water in storage @ 5 GPM flow rate for 1 hour continuously. Will this be an issue for a family of 4 max? We know that we need to use "properly" ie. dishwasher and laundry and shower not to be used at same time. We do not take long showers or do laundry daily (can do 1 load a day).Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Craigpump]

Forget the 5 gpm for an hour, that's about 300 gallons. I'm more interested in the recovery and/or what the well makes over a 4-5 hour period.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cacher_Chick]

If you use an average of 60 gallons per person over the course of a day, it does not seem that it would be an issue.

 

[Craigpump]

If you use an average of 60 gallons per person over the course of a day, it does not seem that it would be an issue.

Maybe not, but you still want to know if the well meets state minimum yield before you buy.

 

[Boycedrilling]

You have had somebody test what the pump will produce. This did NOT tell you what the WELL will produce. You have no idea what the recovery rate is for the well or if the pumping level stabilizes while pumping at the 5 gpm that your pump can produce.

Your 6" well contains 1 1/2 gallons for every foot of water in it. What if it takes two weeks for the water to fill the well back up again? Without water depth readings, you don't know if the 5 gpm only drew the well down a couple of feet, or if it was 5 minutes away from sucking air.

For a flow test to be valid, you need to know not only what the flow rate of the pump is, but also what the water level in the well is as it is being pumped. Other wise, as I stated previously, all you are doing is seeing what the pump itself is capable of.

Every flow test that I perform is a state required minimum of 4 hours in duration and up to 24 hours long. Then recovery reading are taken until the well has recovered at least 95% of the residual drawdown.